The ‘Lost’ hiatus: A lot of shows are doing this lately, having an early ‘fall finale’ and then promising a giant blast of non-stop new episodes in the spring.Apparently 24 has been doing this for a while, starting its seasons in January with American Idol, and I must say that I find it EXCEPTIONALLY ANNOYING AND STUPID.

On the one hand, I admit, I feel like I can breathe a little easier where Lost is concerned.It didn’t end on a huge cliffhanger; it gave me resolution and beauty and, well, all kinds of good stuff.But as a general rule, I find the split-season thing bothersome when the rationale is ‘so we won’t have to show repeats.’

Okay.First of all, there are more weeks in a year than there are episodes.Even counting only the TV season, that’s a solid 36 weeks, give or take a few either way.Unless you live under a rock, you KNOW you’ve heard stories about how long and tough the hours are when making a TV series, and thus why actors quit long-running shows after a while and look towards the movies.You simply can’t physically have a new episode every week (I don’t want to know how the 5-days-a-week telenovelas on My Network work).Heck, I cringe when I hear of shows packing in 25.(22 is a good number, I think) So be patient and understanding.

Second of all, I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see a rerun than not see an episode at all.Not everyone has fancy fast-internet; not everybody can download or stream episodes.And I’d rather rely on a tape to record things I like – I can easily cut out boring scenes like Jack’s flashbacks or Locke at will.Reruns allow me to do that, retape episodes I’ve seen once but keep only the parts I’ll actually watch again.

And thirdly, as I’ve said in the past, there’s no way I’m going to catch, what, 15 straight weeks in a row?Every so often, I will take a nap, or the power will go out, or I’ll have a prior engagement, or I’ll simply forget.And then I won’t even have the hope that maybe it was just a rerun.Or maybe I want to watch another show that’s on at the same time once in a while – something I like to do during repeat weeks.

Fourthly, reruns are good.They give me something to TALK ABOUT between new episodes.I don’t know about you, but with only six episodes aired, I think I’m going to run out of things to ponder over and discuss sometime before February.If I weren’t completely addicted to the Kate/Sawyerness, that would probably cause me to lose my interest in the show.As it is, I don’t think I’m even going to bother looking for the preview clips on YouTube, because the new eps are so far away it’s not even worth thinking about.By airing at least a couple of new episodes a month (except in December, which as a designated Dead Zone usually has just one), the show stays fresh and current.A long hiatus stretch = staleness.And a long stretch of new episodes = I KNOW I’m Going to Burn Out By April.I burned out on House last spring, and I’m panting to keep up with CSI: NY after eight straight episodes – so much so that I don’t even have the time or energy to hunt spoilers for it, even though I know they come in huge and bountiful packages on Talk CSI.

NCIS: This show is almost as fucking broken as CSI Miami, and it’s driving me insane.

Last week looks good in comparison to this one.At least last week had a nice intense moment between Tony and Ziva.This week merely had OH MY GOD BLEACH MY EYES JIMMY AND MICHELLE which needs to halt immediately, and then Abby.Babbling.Abby, flirting and babbling.I felt a need to go throw up again.Please, please don’t make that quasi-romance continue.Please?FOR THE FRICKIN’ LOVE OF GOD, PUT A GOOD LOVE INTEREST ON THIS SHOW.Oh wait, they almost did. Her name is Jen.Unfortunately, Gibbs doesn’t care about her anymore.Sigh.

Actually, Tony’s girlfriend is really sweet.This would be less of a problem if I wasn’t a) 100% convinced that he’s not actually dating her as a romantic interest, but as something to do with his covert undercover mission with the French name, and b) busy sailing the good ship Tiva with more heart and determination than I’ve had even for GAbby.As it is, the scenes with her are cute.Tony seems like a good catch, from her perspective, not the juvenile we usually see.Watching the scenes with them window-shopping was a lot like reading a really good OC fic and seeing it brought to the screen.In a happy AU, this is cute.

The focus of this story, though, was on Michelle, and her skills as an infiltrator.That did not make me happy.Come on, man, I thought we fired her/transferred her to legal!That was a perfectly legitimate and convenient excuse to get rid of her forever; why is she still on this damn show????DON’T SAY PALMER’S LOVE INTEREST.Palmer does not need a love interest.And this whole disappearing-from-Ducky trick is getting very tiresome very quickly.

Oh.Right.Lee.She was pretty convincing talking about how she wanted her sister back, but…I despise Lee.I despise her.She’s ‘deshpickable,’ in a Daffy Duck-esque accent.

The most cringe-worthy moment was probably when Abby says that she’d need that fancy piece of equipment, and Gibbs says “Done.”Then she admits it costs about a hundred grand, and he’s still completely nonchalant, all, “Whatever, we’re ordering it.”Luckily, Jen came in with a verbal smackdown that was quite well deserved.I mean, seriously, Gibbs.$100,000 for something you’ll probably use in like, 1% of your cases?It makes me cringe to even think he could try to order that with total disregard for the budget.

CSI Miami: “Darkroom”

My opinion of this episode has cooled somewhat since I first saw it.I liked it as my #2 for the season right after it aired, but I think I was just so desperate for this show to be good again that I was maybe influenced by the power of wishful thinking.Actually, no, wait.I refused to focus on the Natalia, and spent all my energy focusing on all the good things Horatio did in this episode, and that’s why I liked it.Well, let’s split the list into two numbered lists, NOT in chronological order.

BAD THINGS

I know they rush DNA tests for the purposes of storytelling, but seriously – having Natalia stand right there and get the results in 10 seconds was too over the top.They might have had Nat fearing it was her sister, but she shouldn’t have known with absolute certainty.And why couldn’t she spare 2 seconds to tell Calleigh and Ryan that Anya was her sister?

The Eyes of Compassion, aimed at Natalia again.This has got to stop.Stupid ending.Hiss.

Um…so Nat’s sister called her.Couldn’t they have tried to trace it or something?

Man, Erica is a total bitch, releasing Anya’s name and the fact that she was connected to law enforcement.

Natalia was in freaking HIGH HEELS.Even if I could overlook the sundress (which I can’t because it was very pretty but so not suitable for work unless she’s planning to pursue a job as a receptionist at a hair salon…hey there’s an idea), there’s no way I’m overlooking the absolutely ridiculous pumps she was wearing.

The woman on the rocky beach was a scene straight from “Under Suspicion,” and Nat & Anya hugging at the end was straight out of “Shock.”Unfortunately, and the end of this episode, Horatio’s got nothing but a tombstone to go back to instead of a bride.*goes off to cry at Marisol’s grave*

“She’s lucky to have you.”*explodes angrily* STOP!RECYLING!HIS!DAMN!LINES!And Horatio…*shakes head, ‘tsk’ing sadly* what did I tell you about the sisters of employees?

The storyline overall…eh.It was lukewarm.I felt like I should have cared a lot more about Anya’s plight, but she was almost an afterthought.It was Jill I ended up caring about the most.(the abducted fiancée, traumatized girl who swallowed the key)Anya was just sort of…there at the end.I didn’t think the actress was very good.

GOOD THINGS

Horatio kicked the door down.He kicked it in!Action!H to the rescue!Man, I have missed that side of him.

The Face of Compassion when he asked Jill if she’d been hurt, and she looked down and couldn’t meet his eyes, and he very, very softly told her they’d get her to the hospital.Awww.

STROBE LIGHTS!Freeze-frame flashes!I know people yelled about epileptic fits and migraines, but come on, the show was literally making icons for us.It not only paused the frame, it had it in all kinds of sweet colorwashes that people usually have to mess with Photoshop in order to create the same effect.Oh my God, I want icons!I wish I could make them, but I can’t, so I need other people to do that.There’s one where he’s looking right into the camera, and once I got over laughing at the cheesy self-absorption aspect of that shot, I wanted it for my icon immediately.

Horatio actually threatened to blow Gavin’s brains out.A delightfully more visceral threat than he usually makes.That was deadly intense.So hot.

H again – back towards the beginning now, he held a press conference.With props and everything.He doesn’t hold press conferences.That was a hugely impressive thing he did there - I guarantee he would have left that job to someone else if not for the fact that the case involved Nat’s sister.Him personally speaking was huuuge.Even if it was for Miss Boa, whom I notice he still refuses to call by her first name.Heh.

I hate to say that Natalia ever says anything cool, but when she stalked up to Erica the Bitch and called her ‘News Chick’?That was pretty freaking sweet.

But not nearly as sweet as when Calleigh icy-politely reamed her out for being an attention whore and putting her career and personal fame above the actual news story or the safety of others.

Even though I miss having Ryan as my source of vicarious Natalia-insulting, did you see his eyes when she got the call and started freaking out, and he got her to calm down and reminded her that at least it meant her sister was still alive?Mini-H has been working on his eyes of compassion.AW!

Alexx had much screen time.Much love.Though her hair was doing a weird kind of octopus-tendrils thing today.

OTHER THINGS

A lot of people have been bashing Jill for “protecting” Gavin – lying about being raped, swallowing the key, refusing to give up the guy’s name.But honestly, I completely empathized with her.I believe she truly was so shell-shocked.I think it was a combination of fear and Stockholm Syndrome – they say the latter can occur even if the captive is only held for a short period of time – that prevented her from divulging any information.I am sure that she was convinced he would somehow “know” and kill her. May I remind you, he spared her because she was a virgin, but he made her watch while he killed other girls – maybe while he raped them too, I wasn’t clear on the specifics.I can tell you that I’d probably go completely out of my mind if I had to watch both of those things, terrified that with one wrong move it would happen to me too.No wonder she swallowed the key.Remember she told Calleigh “He was testing me…I was never alone”?She probably thought that if she cooperated with the police, he might be watching, and he’d know that she disobeyed – tying back to the whole rape-and-kill-you deal.

A lot of people have also complained about how the tollbooth operators were hot young college chicks lounging around in skimpy clothes.Okay, we don’t have a lot of tollbooths around here – I can’t remember the last time I drove through one – but I know that it doesn’t seem like the most highly paid of jobs, and I assume it’s an entry-level type thing that college kids could easily get.And while I agree that probably not ALL of them would be giggly gal-pals, at least a couple of them would be – and I can tell you that college girls as a rule tend to dress like that until told otherwise.So I didn’t have a problem with it.